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When You Have a Bad Day

As many of you know, I like to try to follow a daily
discipline of some devotional time.No
doubt, the key word is discipline.It is
so tempting to define spirituality and the spiritual journey in a way that
excludes discipline.It is easy to make
spirituality the same thing as religion.For many Christians religion is a matter of belief---of doctrine.Certainly no Jew would begin with doctrine,
nor would a Buddhist.On the other hand,
the Christian tends to begin a discussion on religion with some kind of “I
believe” statement.

I am not against belief.It is clear to me that one cannot really be spiritual without having
some kind of belief.For many it will be
a belief in God.This is not where the
Buddhist would begin. I certainly have
my own beliefs and, hopefully, some kind of coherent belief system.For example, what I think about God should
correlate with how I think about the world.

Belief systems do not necessarily have an element like
discipline.I am convinced that
spirituality has to have an inherent discipline or it is just a bunch of
ideas.Ideas are not bad; in fact, they
are necessary.But spirituality has to
do with life and life is more than ideas.Life is action---often sustained action over time. And this is where discipline typically comes
into the picture.

So in my discipline practice, I turned to the readings from
the Psalms that were listed for the night prayer in yesterday’s
lectionary.The night prayer is called
Compline, which seems to imply “complete.”Compline is the last monastic communal time before the monks head to
their individual rooms and to bed to rest for another day.Compline is my favorite part of the daily
lectionary.

I had to laugh when I read the first Psalm that was listed
for yesterday’s Compline.Early in Psalm
143, the Psalmist shares these words: “The enemy has hounded my spirit,he has crushed my life to the
ground,he has
shut me in darkness, like the dead of long ago.” Wow, I thought, this is a bummer!These words sound like the Psalmist has had a
bad day.That is when I laughed.I don’t think I have ever considered the
writer of the Psalms had a bad day.

Too
often religion and spirituality are offered as recipes for living so that
people never will have bad days.Of
course, that is ridiculous.Nobody can
live life without having a bad day.Maybe in Eden, Adam and Eve never had a bad day.But then, we all know they had a bad day---a
very bad day, indeed.They fell, or so
the story goes.And on their bad day
were sown the seeds of all the bad days all human beings apparently are
destined to have.

Listen
carefully to the bad day of the Psalmist.The first complaint is that the enemy has hounded my spirit.I can resonate with this.My “enemy” takes on many forms.My enemy might be a co-worker or unruly
student.It might be the guy who runs
into my car.My enemy can even be me!Sometimes I am my own worst enemy.I become overcommitted---too busy---and drive
myself nuts.I do not even need an external
enemy!All my enemies hound my
spirit.They harass me relentlessly.

The
second line from the Psalmist becomes even more dramatic: he has crushed my
life to the ground.I understand that
teenagers occasionally get grounded.But
when the enemy grounds us, that is serious!This seems like the Psalmist is halted, stymied and impotent.Hope fades and things get bleaker.I have had bad days---and bad stretches---like
that.

So
what is one to do?Let me offer three
simple suggestions.They are not
necessarily easy, but they are simple.In the first place when you are having a bad day, keep your faith.And if you don’t have faith, find or create
faith.It can be faith in God, which
many of us have.But even if you can’t
have faith in God, have faith in something bigger than yourself.Have a faith that transcends your person and
your situation.Faith helps us not be
egocentric.We are not god.Discover God.

Secondly,
when you are having a bad day, stay with community.And if you don’t have a community, get to
work to find or create community.Community is a place where people care for you and you are asked to
care.To be part of community is to be
part of a place that offers meaning and purpose. Latch on to the bigger picture
that community provides.Again, it is
not just about you.

Finally,
when you have a bad day, persevere.Develop a quality of resiliency.Authentic spirituality enables people to develop a resiliency---a
quality of “bounce back.”Resiliency
means that one will not get stuck in the place the Psalmist describes: being
shut in the darkness, like the dead.The
dead are not resilient.You are not
dead.

When
you have a bad day, keep the faith, stay with community and be resilient.

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